Coming to Milwaukee
When: July 2, 2016 8pm
Where: Summerfest Johnson Controls World Sound Stage with 88Nine Radio Milwaukee
Tickets: http://summerfest.com/ticket-info/
The basics
Where they're from: Minneapolis, MN
Their song 88Nine is playing: "Sophie So," "Suicide Saturday"
RIYL: indie-rock, house parties, Vampire Weekend
5 questions with Hippo Campus
The young four-piece from the Twin Cities met at a high school for the arts, St. Paul Conservatory. Their music cements the moment of coming-of-age energy and emotion. 88Nine talked to guitarist and songwriter Nathan Stocker while they are on a short break writing new music before their performance at Summerfest on July 2. Talking dream studio experiences, van life and the origins of the band. Read the interview below:
1. How did Hippo Campus get started?
Hippo Campus was born in the fires of Mt. Doom. There was a lot of dancing involved, a lot of late nights with friends, house parties and I think Hippo Campus was kind of a culmination of the good times we had with our friends in high school and a tribute that. It ended up lasting longer than we could have ever hoped for.
Congrats on your success straight out of the gate.
Yeah we’ve been blessed with a bunch of cool things thrown our way. We’re just happy to be here along on the ride, just ready to make more music.
2. If you could collaborate with anyone dead or alive, who would it be?
In my experience, collaborating with someone you admire or even interacting with them can be pretty humbling. Usually, my studio dream would be sitting in a chair in the back watching people do their thing rather than actually collaborating.
Who would those people be?
I really like this singer-songwriter from Colorado called Gregory Alan Isakov. He breaks my heart. Another one would be Bach. You can’t go wrong with Bach. He’s definitely dead.
3. Do you have music you play in the van or does everyone listen to headphones?
It’s rare that we’re all listening to the same thing in the van, but the driver always picks the music that’s played through the van speakers.
That’s fair. Do you have any van games?
There’s this one called Contact. It’s a bit complicated. There’s somebody who is thinking of a word and they give the people guessing the first letter of said word. They are trying to connect on the same word without speaking. It’s a turn-based game, if the person with the word guesses what they were thinking of, then they don’t get a letter. If they say the same thing on the count of three, they get another letter added to the word… it’s just a really long and frustrating process.
So, that game, or we like to draw on each other’s faces when we’re asleep. Another game we play is who can fart the loudest. If you really go for it – it does not end well.
4. What do you think of when you think of Milwaukee?
I don’t know Milwaukee very well. We’ve heard good things about Summerfest and that is about it. Wisconsin in general is pretty cool, but we’re just excited to play for a bunch of people and have fun in the Midwest.
5. What's next for Hippo Campus?
This summer we're finishing up our album and just making music. We're doing a couple one-offs, some festivals. Right now the main focus is making music at home.
You can watch Hippo Campus perform live in Milwaukee at Summerfest on July 2. They go one at 8pm on the Johnson Controls World Sound Stage with 88Nine and Blue Moon.
More info: summerfest.com/blog/2016/04/26/hippo-campus/